Cinderevans
by cutieismynam
Summary: Lily Evans cannot go to the Seventh Year ball. Not that she cares, anyway. But when her fairy godmother forcibly makes her into a modernday Cinderella, Lily realizes that it is at this ball that she may have found her modernday Prince Charming. jameslily
1. The Announcement

I do not own anything you reconize, which is any of the wonderful characters that JK Rowling has brought into our world, and I do not own the story of Cinderella. But this time i do own this story Erin sorry about last story i was just doing something i didnt want u to read it so i sorry hope I forgiven.Thanks

It was middle November, windy and cold as it usually was at this time of year. The only sounds that could be heard on the Hogwarts grounds where the far off cries of the unknown animals deep in the Forbidden Forrest and the swishing of the wind. But inside the large castle that dominated those grounds, it was anything but quiet.

Professor Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts, had just posted the date of the annual Seventh Years Masquerade Ball, and everyone was overly excited. Well, all the girls where; except for one.

"Oh Lil, isn't it wonderful?" Erin Schwartiz asked giddily to her best friend Lily Evans as they watched the hordes of girls clustering around the announcement board outside the Great Hall; talking excitingly to each other about their new dress robes.

"I don't see what all the fuss is about," Lily replied flatly as her sparkling emerald eyes gazed over ar the giggling girls. "It's just a ball."

"Oh Lily, you and your non girlish ways," Erin joked. She flipped her magically straightened light brown hair over her shoulder before continuing. "To every seventeen year old girl, this is a really big deal. This is a time to get all dollied up, and to try and get with the guy they like. It's a once in a lifetime chance." She explained.

"And I should care about this why?" Lily inquired, shaking her head of red hair slightly.

"Well, you really don't have to. I mean, you have all the looks that all girls dream of, and you already have the perfect guy." Erin pointed out, her honey-brown eyes showing the slightest hint of envy.

"Erin, you know that I am not the prettiest girl in the school, and that I am no prettier than you are. And let's get something straight," Lily's voice hardened and became a deathly low. "This so called 'Perfect Guy' you're talking about, I don't have one. I don't want one, I don't need one, and I HATE him."

"Well since we're on the subject of James Potter, then why hasn't he asked you out to the Ball eight times yet?"

"I don't know," Lily paused, then her face brightened up and she finished hopefully, "Maybe one of his fan club girls got to him and he knew I would say no, so he decided to go with her."

"I highly doubt that, Lil." Erin remarked skeptically.

"Hey, a girl can dream, can't she?" Lily asked in mock offence as they entered the Great Hall and took a seat at the end of the Gryffindor table.

"So Prongs, when are you going to ask Evans to the ball?" Sirius Black, James' best friend, inquired as he stuffed a large piece of toast into his mouth.

"That's gross Sirius. Keep your mouth shut." Remus Lupin protested as Sirius stared expectingly at James, his mouth open to reveal some very mushy pieces of heavily buttered toast.

"I'm not going to." James muttered as he pushed his scrambled eggs around the plate.

"And why not?" Sirius asked shocked, some pieces of toast falling onto his plate.

"Because. She'll hate me more. And maybe she might think of me as an okay guy if I don't ask her out every second of the day."

"Moony, I believe something terrible has happened to our old buddy Prongs here."

"Oh, and what exactally do you believe is ''wrong with him"?" Remus asked in an amused manner.

"One, he has only asked Evans out four times this year, and two, he hasn't asked her out to the ball and won't. He's just acting weird."

"Well, I think I have a conclusion for you, Sirius."

"Really? What is it? Tell me what's wrong with him!"

"I think that James here has matured."

"What?" Sirius asked confused.

"Let me put it into terms you'd understand," James said. "I deflated my big head a bit. That make sense?"

"Yep. So, you're not going to ask Evans out to the Ball?"

James simply glared at Sirius before looking at the two girls that where sitting at the far end of the table. He sighed sadly as he stared at her for so long that he lost track of time. He didn't know if it was a minute, a hour, a day, or even a week. He was content with simply staring and memorizing her every feature.

"Prongs. Prongs? PRONGS!" Sirius yelled into James' ear, making him jump several inches into the air.

"What?" James asked annoyed.

"Are you going to ask Evans to the ball or not?" Sirius repeated.

"Sirius, you are impossible." Remus remarked laughing before he opened up his Potions book and began to read.

"James is staring at you again." Lily rolled her eyes and ignored him; though she could feel his penetrating gaze upon her. She once more tried to concentrate on the book that she had proped up against the side of the table.

"What are you reading?" Erin asked conversationally as she sipped her pumpkin juice.

''Book."

"What book?"

Lily looked up annoyed. "A book." She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and continued reading.

"Could you at least tell me the author?" Erin sighed.

"Grimm."

"Grimm. I know that name. Where do I know that name?" 

"Cinderella."

"That's it!" She snapped her fingers and looked at her friend oddly. "You're reading a fairy tale book?"

"Yeah, so what. Something wrong with that?"

"No, it's just that, well-"

"It's just what?"

"Well, no one really reads fairy tale books anymore. They're for-"

"For what?" Lily snapped. "For children? Is that what you where going to say?"

"No, for..for.."

"Muggleborns." Lily finished and stormed out of the Great Hall, slinging her bag over her shoulder and headed towards the lake.

When she reached the lake, Lily's anger had subsided. She had no reason to get mad at her friend, she just overracted. But still, Erin was a pureblood and hadn't grown up with them like she had. It was childish to read about beautiful princesses getting into dangerous peril and then having a handsome prince slay the dragon and the two of them falling in love; it just wasn't realistic.

She sighed once again and opened to the last page of the story that she had been reading, her favorite, Cinderella. 'She was then taken to the Prince, who fell immediately in love with her again, and they lived happily ever after.' She closed the book and rested her head against the tree trunk that shaded her from the mild autumn sun. Lily closed her eyes and admist the swirling wind, she managed to doze off slightly.

James watched as Lily angrily stormed away from her friend and out the Great Hall doors while Sirius was rambling on to him about something Quidditch.

"...and Prongs, we desperately need a new beater, cause Tom says he's done, he quit. Didn't like all the work and things so you need to hold tryouts soon, okay? Prongs!" He yelled annoyed that his best friend wasn't paying any attention to him. Sirius followed his gaze and saw where it led. "Now she's on her own, ask her now." He whispered.

"No, I'm not going to ask her."

"Why not? It's alright for Wormtail to show up alone-"

"Hey!" Peter Pettigrew, also known as Wormtail, picked up his head from his plate of eggs and glared at Sirius.

"- but for you it's just sad." Sirius finished as if Wormtail had never spoken.

"So? We'll all be wearing masks so it's not like anyone's going to reconize me."

"James? Your hair is pretty reconizable." Wormtail pointed out.

"Not really, there are a lot of guys with black hair."

"Yeah, true, but yours is the only one that sticks out like that." Remus pointed out regretfully.

''So I'll use potion. Or maybe I won't even go." James mumbled.

"No, you have to go. Marauder's prank." Sirius insisted and Peter nodded his head in agreement. "Moony, whip up some potion for Prongs to use for the ball... and, now that I think about it, try and find a spell that'll make his eyesight perfect."

"Why?" 

"Because, if Prongs doesn't want girls fawning over him, then he'll want to look like every other guy there... who won't be wearing glasses."

"What do you say to that, James?" Remus asked.

"Fine, I don't really care." He grumbled, "Why are we making such a big deal about this ball?"

"Because, it needs to be perfect so we can mess it up with another one of our marvelous pranks." Peter piped up over his goblet of pumpkin juice.

"Exactally," Sirius nodded, "Speaking of which, what shall it be this year? Just the Slytherins or everyone? What do you think, Prongs?"

"Slytherins, Snivellus and his group in perticular." James said, his mood brightening now that the subject of conversation was off him. "I was actually thinking that this year we use the house elves to help us..."

The cool breeze ruffled Lily's hair as she made her way back to the castle to get started on her homework; while she passed many students of different years coming outside to enjoy the cool weather on that fine Saturday. When she reached the portriat of Aelphaba the Wicked on the fifth floor she stopped in front of it, waiting patiently for the figure inside to realize her presence.

"Oh, hello." The green skined witch said stiffly. "Password?"

"Carpe Diem." Lily said walking through the hole behind the portrait that led to the Head's common room. The lavishly decorated room in every house color was twice as spacious as the Gryffindor common room. It had a huge marble fireplace which was always magically burning so that the flames never died down and large, comfortable armchairs and couches surrounding it.

Although when she walked in, she saw that none other then the famous Marauders occuping the couches, pieces of parchment scattered around them and the floor, with their heads all leaned in close together, whispering intently.

"No...too dangerous..." She heard Remus' warning whispered tones.

"Oh...not that bad...it's blue...turn them-"

"What are you planing now?" She interupted Sirius, making her presense known. All four boys turned around at the sight of her and Sirius nudged James 'discretly' in the side.

"Evans! Fancy seeing you here." Sirius replied beaming, ignoring her question as he and Peter struggled to hide the papers.

"If you plan on pranking anyone and I mean anyone during the ball, you'll-"

"Be marked down in Hogwarts history?" Sirius finished, getting up, "Thanks Evans, you're too kind." He brushed pass her and hurried out the portrait hole with Remus and Peter in tow.

James kept his gaze down at the fire and couldn't and wouldn't look into Lily's piercing stare.

"So..." She trailed off, hands on her hips, staring at him angrily.

"So what?"

"Potter, we have been planning this ball for months! You know how important this is to all the Seventh Years! You can't just decide that you and your friends want to ruin it because you can't think of anyway better to spend your time!"

"People like our pranks, Lily. No one's going to mind." James said absently, getting up and walking towards his dorm room.

"Yeah, everyone except the Slytherins. And did you just call me Lily?" He stopped at his door, his right hand clasped around the brass door knob and turned to look at her.

"Yeah, something wrong with that?" She just stood there, staring at him, and walked angrily towards her room; trying to ignore the odd feeling that she felt when he said her first name.

'It was a twinge of hatred, no loathing. Yes, loathing's a much better word.' She thought once she was in the safety of her room. 'But, why did he call me Lily? I haven't been any nicer to him, and him likewise to me. Although, he hasn't asked me out that much this year, but still...' Her thoughts drifted away as she fell into a sleep where she felt nothing, thought nothing and dreamed nothing.

James watched her sadly as she walked through the door to her room and slammed it shut behind her. He sighed and entered his own room and fell face first onto the large four-poster bed.

'Great job, Potter. You freaked her out. You tried to actually be nice to her and you make her angry by answering with another rude retort. Absoulte genius.' He slammed his head down on the scarlet comforter repeadily until he heard a faint whispering.

"Prongs!... Prongs!" James brought his head up confused and looked at his nightstand where a mirror lay amongst the pieces of parchment and books. He smiled slightly and picked up the rather light mirror and brought it close to his face.

"Hello Padfoot." His smile grew wider as he saw Sirius' come into view, his black hair hanging against the sides of his face.

"There you are. Been wondering when you'd hear me. What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Well, I just wanted to tell you that I just came back from talking with the house elves. They told me where the Slytherin table would be during the ball. It's all too easy."

"Yeah, it should be. But, how are we going to get them to smell it? We can't put it in the food."

"There's going to be flowers. We replace the flowers with ones that'll squirt out the spray and then they'll smell it."

"What about the other tables? Won't we smell it too?"

"No, we're confining it to one perticular area. Moony's figuring it out in the library with Wormtail as we speak."

"Cool. Wait- Wormtail's in the library?" James asked unbelevingly.

"Yeah, why?"

"Just didn't know he could read, that's all."

"Yeah, it was a surprise to me too when he told me that he was going to help Moony. Anyway, back to the spray. Have you got anymore or do we have to make it?"

"No, I have some Padfoot, don't worry. It's clear, so that's a good thing. They won't be able to see it."

Sirius smiled maliciously. "Excellent. Look, it's dinner. How 'bout we continue this conversation in the Great Hall with Moony and Wormtail? And we have to talk extra loud to make sure that Evans hears us."

"No, let's not." James said immediately. "She's really angry right now."

"Why? You ask her out finally?"

"No. She doesn't want us to go through with the prank. And I called her Lily, so I guess she's not too happy about that either."

"Why wouldn't she be happy about you calling her Lily? I mean, if you call a girl by their first name doesn't that mean that you've matured?" Sirius asked confused.

"'Matured'? Why are you using such large vocabulary, Padfoot?"

"I've been hanging out with Moony too much; now that you've always got head duties. You never answered my question."

"I don't know. I mean, I guess it does mean that I've matured, but... then again, it's just her name. It's not like I've done anything else besides not asking her out that'll make her think me a better person."

"Huh? Wait, I'm confused."

"Don't try to think too hard, Padfoot. You'll hurt yourself. I'll see you at dinner." James smiled at his friend and placed the mirror back on the nighttable before getting up and leaving his room. He turned his head towards Lily's room and saw her also leaving, her hair slightly messed up and her eyes bright from sleep.

"I'm sorry," James said to her as they walked out of the portrait hole and down the corridor. "For what I did to make you mad."

She looked at him with a mix of surprise and shock before nodding her head slightly, "You're forgiven. And I'm sorry too, for overracting." She mumbled as she quickened her step and entered the Great Hall.

Lily spotted Erin at the end of the table, sitting by herself and playing with the salad that she had on her plate. "Hi."

Erin looked up and saw her friend. "Hi." She mumbled in response, resuming playing with her food.

Lily sat down next to her and immediately felt bad that her temper had gotten the best of her again. "I'm sorry."

Erin looked up slightly. "For what?"

"For letting my temper get the best of me. I shouldn't have gotten angry at you for that."

"It's okay. I shouldn't have said anything about the book. So, we're alright?" Erin asked tentively.

"Yeah, we're great."

"So, anyone ask you to the ball yet?" Erin said, perking up immediately, and Lily smiled. 

Thanks plz read and review there will be 3 or more chapters 


	2. Christmas is Near

Hope you like this chapter Thanks to

**Rising Dreamer**

**SingingBird812**

**queenofthefaeries**

**Rock-For-Life**

**Herb3**

for reveiwing 

It seemed that the six weeks that where in between the announcement and the ball flew by quicker then the latest Cleansweep model. Soon it was only two weeks before the ball and then a week. It also seemed that after all the seventh years found out about the ball they couldn't concentrate on anything else. The girls would pass notes during classes comparing their dress robes and who they where going with and the boys would talk about which girls they wanted to ask out and what they should get for their dates. Teachers where growing more agrivated by the minute, especially the Transfiguration teacher, Professor McGonagall, and would have to be constantly giving out detentions and extra homework assignments as punishment. The only person who seemed unfazed by the ball was Lily, and Professor Slughorn, the Potions master, made sure that everyone knew it.

"It seems that the news of this ball has not affected everyone!" He boomed while checking over the seventh year's Calming Draughts. "Ms. Evans is the only one here whose potion is the exact shade of green that it should be. But then again, I would expect nothing less from her. Excellent, excellent job my dear. 10 points to Gryffindor for your amazing work." He walked away to criticize the Ravenclaw's potions, leaving many people to either roll their eyes or glare at Lily for being 'teacher's pet'.

"Don't worry about them, Lil." Erin reassured her as they walked out of the dungeons a half an hour later. "They're just jelaous that you're the only one who got a good grade on it. And the girls, well, they're just angry that James hasn't asked out any one of them yet." She giggled.

Lily just rolled her eyes. "I always get the best grades in that class, I can't help that Slughorn likes to praise me every chance he gets and I also can't help the fact that Potter only has eyes for me." She quickened her step angrily and made her way towards the Great Hall for dinner.

"That reminds me," Erin said once she sat down beside her friend at the end of the Gryffindor table. "Are you going to Hogsmeade to get dress robes tomorrow?"

"No." Lily mumbled.

"Why not? You don't have any-"

"Yes I do. I bought them over the summer at Diagon Alley."

"Oh, then why haven't I seen them?"

"Because...my parents are getting them cleaned and hemmed. Then they're going to send them to me." Lily in truth has lied through her teeth. There where no 'new dress robes'. In truth, her family had been going through some money trouble since her older sister, Petunia, was getting married, and her parents didn't have any money to spare.

"Oh, okay then. Well, when they come in, I want to see them immediately." Erin demanded, forcing some pieces of salad onto her fork.

"Prongs, the ball is a week away and you can't still not be going without anyone." Sirius remarked, mashed potatoes making his speech hard to hear.

"So? Is it so bad that I haven't got a date?" James muttered in response, playing with his food.

"For James Potter it is. Look, either you get a date by tomorrow or I pick one out for you."

James head shot up and he yelled "No!" at the same time Remus did.

"And why not?" Sirius asked.

"Let him go by himself." Remus said. "No one's going to know it's him anyway. I found a spell for your hair and eyes, James. So you don't have to worry."

"Happy now, Padfoot? Problem solved." James glared at his friend, daring him to make another comment, which never left Sirius' mouth.

The next day was bright and sunny, unusual for a day so late into winter and it seemed to match everyone's moods.

"Come on! Why won't you come?" Erin pleaded with her friend.

"Because, I have too much schoolwork that I need to finish. Besides, like I said, I already have dress robes. I don't need to come." Lily lied, walking into her dorm and leaving Erin standing in the common room slightly hurt.

"Fine. Bye then! I'll see you when I get back!" She shouted at her friend as she left through the Head's portrait hole.

"Bye." Lily called aimlessly after her friend go leave and have a great time spending all the money that Lily could never have in a lifetime. She walked over to her window and saw Erin talking with some of her other friends in Ravenclaw on their way across the snow covered grounds. She sighed and walked into the common room with all of her books to get a head start on her homework without having to hide away in the library from Potter and his friends.

She sat down in the couch closest to the fire and plopped her heavy Transfiguration textbook on the table along with parchment, ink and a quill and opened up the book to begin her work.

"How many times do I have to tell you, Padfoot? I don't need to go to Hogsmeade, nor do I want to. I have to finish the essay for Slughorn, I'll see you all when you get back!" James yelled to his friends standing in the Entrance Hall from the top of the stairs.

"Aw, come on Prongs! That essay's not due until Monday!" Sirius shouted up.

"And today's Sunday!"

"It is? Oh well, good thing I have old Moony here to help me with it at the last minute." Sirius remarked, throwing his arm around Remus' shoulders.

"You're on your own with this one, mate." He said smiling before him and Peter walked out into the freezing wind.

"Fine! You coming Prongs?"

James just rolled his eyes and walked back to the Heads common room, wanting to get a nice, long nap in front of the fire while Lily was out getting new dress robes with her friend. What he did not expect, however, was to see Lily sitting on his favorite couch in front of the fire doing the exact essay for Slughorn that he needed to get done.

"Lily?" Her firery head wiped around at the sound of her name and glared at him once she saw who the speaker was.

"Potter." She nodded curtily, dipping her quill in her ink pot and writing a couple more sentences.

"What are you doing here?" He asked her surprised, walking around and sitting in the armchair next to her.

"Doing homework."

"No, I mean, why aren't you in Hogsmeade?"

"It's too cold."

"That's a terrible excuse. Why aren't you getting dress robes? You can't very well show up at the ball in your Gryffindor robes." Lily glared at him; obviously not thinking his lame excuse for a joke to be funny.

"Maybe I'm not even going." She responded stiffly, bending over her half filled parchment even more.

"Not going?" James repeated shocked. "But, we both and Dumbledore have been planning this since the first day of term. You where so excited about it. How can you decide to just not go? Everyone'll be expecting you-"

"Drop it! Okay?" She snapped, her head coming up and eyes flashing a dangerous emerald fire. "Isn't it possible that I just simply changed my mind? No one's going to care if I'm there or not." Lily stuffed her finished essay in her bag, swung it onto her shoulder and marched away from him.

"You couldn't have changed your mind," He muttered making her turn around.

"What?"

"I know you, you-"

"You don't know me!"

"You where too happy about this. And you're wrong about no one caring if you wheren't there." James walked over to her and leaned in close to her ear. "I do care." He whispered. He pulled away and saw that her face was frozen in a shocked expression, her chest heavily up and down uncontrollably and her hands where shaking. James gave her a small smile and went into his room to get his homework.

Lily watched him walk away from her and into his dorm. Her heart was still pounding, her breath still coming in short gasps, her palms still slightly sweating. Never in her entire life had James Potter come that close to her, never had she reacted the way she did right when he whispered in her ear; and never did she expect to feel the butterfly sensation in her stomach and tingling in her spine when he walked toward her.

She closed and opened her eyes in rapid sucession, taking deep breaths along with them to calm her nerves. This had never happened to her before. This...feeling. Was it possibly a heighted level of loathing? Or could it have been the one thing that Lily Evans had sworn from day one to never ever feel towards James Potter: love?

"So anyway, I met up with Sirius in Three Broomsticks and guess what?" Erin gushed later that night after she had come back from Hogsmeade with all her pocket money gone and six bags of clothes.

"I can't imagine." Lily responded bored, picking once more at her food, moving it around her plate. Not really paying much attention to the 'excellent' news that her friend just HAD to tell her, for her mind was elsewhere. Lily snuck a glance at Potter sitting a little way down with his friends, Sirius talking happily about something that all the other Marauders had looks of boredom plastered on their faces about.

"...and I said yes! Isn't it wonderful, Lil? Lil? Lily!"

"Huh? Um...yeah, that's...um, great for you."

Erin looked her over carefully with a heavily black pencil lined eye. "What's wrong?" She asked knowingly.

"Nothing."

"I don't think so. Lil, I know you. Whose bothering you?"

"No one." 

"What did James do?"

"He didn't do a thing."

"Well then I hope you won't mind if I asked him then." Erin got up but was pulled down roughly by her friend.

"No!"

"Aha! What did he do?"

"He just...it wasn't his fault...and I can't really explain what happened...butterflies in stomach...spine-"

"Tingling?" Lily nodded. "Really? Are you serious?"

"Yes! Why? Is it bad?"

"No! No it's not bad at all! Lil, you have a crush on James!"

"What? That's absurd. Me? Like James? That'll never happen."

"You just called him James." Erin pointed out smugly, smirking.

"No I didn't!"

"Yes you did."

"Did not!"

"Did."

"Didn't." Lily finalized, standing up determined. "And I'll prove it to you. I'll go right up to Ja- Potter and go yell at him some more about his 'prank' that they're going to pull during the ball." Erin watched her friend happily march over to the head Marauder and pause her she spoke to him.

"I-you-can I talk to you outside?" Lily blurted out. 'Can I talk to you outside? Where did that come from? Oh damn, what am I going to do now?' She cursed herself inside for her stupidity.

"Sure." James answered confused, standing up and following the Head Girl out of the Great Hall.

The two of them made their way out of the Hall, ignoring many curious glances and into the Entrance Hall. They stood across from each other for what seemed years in silence, waiting for the other to say something.

"So-"

"Do-" They started at the same time.

"You go first." James nodded.

"Okay, um, I was just wondering if you wanted to go for a walk?" Lily asked.

"Outside?"

"No. Around the school. That is, only if you want to."

"Sounds like a great idea." They started down the corridor in silence, even the portraits wheren't talking that night; and none of the ghosts where there as they where too preoccupied at dinner, talking with the students of their houses.

The two Heads made it up to the second floor without unttering a word or breathing too loud. The silence was so unbearable that Lily felt that annoying buzzing sound in her ears that you get when even silence becomes too loud, making her even more uncomfortable then she was.

"What are you doing for Christmas?" She asked suddenly, looking at him out of the corner of her eye.

"Oh, um, I'm staying here this year. For the ball."

"So, you're going then?"

"Yeah. And I take it that you're still not?"

"Probably not." She nodded.

The conversation that went on between them was probably the most akward one in history, but yet the most plesent one that Lily and James had ever had between each other. By the time they had walked around the entire third, fourth, fifth and sixth floor, they had discussed friends, classes, teachers, the weather and their families.

"My parents are Aurors. Never home much, but they're great." James explained as they neared their portrait hole.

"My parents are great too. My mum's a professor of English at a local school and my dad works for a construction company." Lily said, glancing nervously in his direction. Purebloods wheren't known to be friendly to muggleborns, but James was different; very different, in an interestingly pleasant way.

"What's a construction company?"

"Oh, um, someone who builds buildings and such."

"Interesting. And what exactally is english? Is it speaking?"

"No, writing and reading."

"Writing and reading what?"

"Poetry and novels-"

"Poetry?"

"Uhh...short writings that sometimes rhyme and sometimes have hidden meanings. Isn't there poetry in the Wizarding world?"

"Probably. I don't like to read much." James shrugged his shoulders as they came to the portrait. "Do you want to go in? Or back to the Great Hall?"

"Dinner's over by now. Carpe Diem." Lily said walking through the portrait hole and into the common room. "Thank you, James. It was nice to see this side of you." She added before scurring to her door and closing it shut behind her; her eyes staying locked on James' the entire time.

She leaned her back against the door and took a deep breath. She closed her eyes and opened them. Something was happening to her. Something odd. Something that there had to be an explaination to. Something that had to have a meaning. Something that would help her to unlock the mystery of her feelings for a certain James Potter.

"Lil? Lily!" Erin snapped her perfectly manicured nails in front of her best friend's face. 

"What?" She asked annoyed, taking her eyes off a black haired boy.

"You're not listening to me again." Erin whinned. "What's wrong? It's a guy isn't it? Oh, I knew it! Who is he? Why do you like him so much? Is he cute? Is he popular? Do I know him? How did-"

"Erin. I have only two things to say to you: Shut up and piss off."

"That was four things." She pointed out, holding up her fingers in Lily's face. "Please, Lil. I tell you everything about me-"

"That's your decision."

"-and I want to know why you are so keen as to staring at James for the beginning of breakfast."

"Fine. I had a civil conversation with him."

"And?"

"And nothing."

"Nothing has changed about the way you think of him?"

"He has a good side."

"Aha! You like him."

"I do not!"

"Don't lie to me. I can tell in the way you say his name."

"That's not true. Besides, how can you tell?"

"Well, one: it's a girl thing and two: you just asked me how can I tell. You just told me."

"I just asked you how you can tell by my voice that I like him, which I don't!"

"Yes you do."

"Do not."

"Okay, fine whatever you say. Anyway, you got a date for the ball yet?"

"No."

"Did your parents send you those dress robes?"

"Um, no...they're, ah...coming...sometime next week."

"Well your parents better hurry up with them. Cause I have to fix them if they somehow don't look right. And I have to do your hair the exact way and I have to make you a mask, and-"

"Erin. Did it ever occur to you that I can possibly do all this myself?" 

"But, you want to look pretty, don't you?"

"So you're saying that only you can make me look pretty?"

"No! It's just that-"

"I'll have you know that I am perfectly capable of doing this myself." Lily remarked angrily, shooting up from her seat and marching out of the Great Hall, tears filling her eyes; and a black haired boy following her.

"Just because I don't take an hour every morning to fix my hair or that I don't put on makeup does not mean that I am completely incapable of doing anything that is even a bit girly." She muttered under her breath, walking quickly and purposely back to her dorm, tears falling down her cheeks.

James stayed far behind Lily, he didn't want her to blow off her red-head temper at him; he had just gotten the tiniest bit of her trust and he didn't want to loose it. She went straight past the portrait hole and continued walking until she came to the empty Charms classroom, which she walked in and sat down at her usual desk in the front.

He walked in tentively, taking his time in walking towards her. Her face was on top of the desk, in the crook of her folded arms and her shoulders heaved greatly. James took a seat next to her cautiously and placed a cautious hand atop her right shoulder.

She didn't pick up her head and yell at him like he expected but simply took her left hand out from under her forehead and grabbed his hand tightly for comfort.

"Lily?" He asked concerned, picking her head up gently. She looked back at him with a slightly surprised but pleased expression with red rimmed green eyes. "You look like Christmas." James joked, looking into her eyes.

She let out a choked sort of sob/laugh and wiped her eyes. "How did you know I was in here?"

"I heard you get up and yell at your friend. She say something rude again?"

"Rude? She insulted me. She basically came out and said that I can't do anything except for getting good grades. She said I'm not a girl."

"Well, I beg to differ on that."

"In what?"

"On the fact that you can't do anything except get good grades."

"She's right, in a way."

"Well, can she get absoutely perfect grades on everything?"

"I don't-"

"Can she?''

"No."

"Can she be incredibly nice to everyone, including people who don't deserve it?"

"I'm not nice to everyone."

"But is she?"

"No."

"Can she multi task?"

"What?"

"Can she do multiple things at once? Like you can write an essay and yell at me with good remarks at the same time."

"No."

"So, as Sirius would say: 'Girls where born with the gift of multitasking, except for Erin, evloution missed a step.'"

"Sirius really says that about Erin?"

"No, he just says the part about girls being born with the gift of multitasking. The rest is all me."

"Thank you, James. You've been much kinder to me in the past two days then I have been to you in the past six years."

"It has been my pleasure to help you out," James said, bowing his head slightly. He got up and made his way to the door; pausing once he got there. "And Lily? You don't have to be modest." And he left.

She stared after him with a slight smile, feverish head and racing heart.

Like this chap? Hope you all did! And for once, everything in this chapter are things that I came up with myself, lol!

Please review!! 


	3. Fairy Godmother

Snow came down first in little flurries, then in sheets and then finally it consumed the air making everything covered in a white blanket. The lake froze over and the trees, that looked like empty skeletons from the autum, where practically filled to their limit with the frozen rain.

The day of the ball dawned just as a terrible snowstorm from the night before ended. The Prefects were set to work as soon as breakfast was finished, setting up the tables and decorations. Lily was helping out the fifth year prefects get the trees up around the hall and James was 'helping' out the house elves with the food.

Their work went on well into the afternoon and by the time five o'clock came around, everyone was tired and hungry. The seventh years went back to their dorms to go change for the ball and the younger teens went there to sleep.

Lily was having trouble hanging up the last decoration. She had told everyone to go back to their dorms, she could finish it all by herself; but now, she regretted her decision. The last decoration was the star at the top of one of the trees, and it wasn't staying. She groaned as it once again fell off the top and plummented to the floor.

"Need some help?" She turned around and smiled tiredly at the sight of James.

"Yes, thank you." She nodded gratefully as he took the star from her hand and walked up next to the tree.

"Levitate me up there." He ordered.

"What?"

"Levitate me up there, so I can put this star on." James repeated, pointing towards the top of the tree.

"Oh, um... are you sure? You can get hurt-"

"And if I get hurt, there's always Madame Pompfrey."

"Alright, Wingardium Leviosa!'' Lily pointed her wand warrily at James; lifting him up little up little until he finally got to the top.

"There, perfect. Alright, bring me back down!" He shouted.

She brought him down quicker then she did bringing him up and when he landed on the ground she ran over to him. "Are you alright?" She asked concerned.

"I'm fine. You don't have to worry, it was fun. You should try it sometime."

"I'm terrified of heights." Lily admitted, blushing.

"Huh, well, that would explain why you hate quidditch," James said thoughtfully, scratching his chin. "Oh well, come on, we have to get ready for the ball." We grabbed her arm and started to lead her out of the hall.

"You mean, you have to get ready." She muttered.

"What? Lily, I thought we went through this. Why won't you come?"

"Because...because, oh! My parents are in debt from my sister's wedding and now they barely have any money to buy food; so that's why I can't go to the ball: because my parent's don't have any more money to spare on things I need or want. And I know that sounds selfish-" She exclaimed, tears filling up her eyes.

"No! No, that sounds the farthest thing from selfish," James said, wiping away some of the stray tears that had fallen out of her emerald eyes. "Look, since you won't be going, you're just going to be in the Head's dorms all night, I'll stay with you and keep you company."

"What? No, you can't! You have the prank and you're James Potter! You have to go."

"There are plently of guys with black hair there, the girls will never know that I'm not there. Well, until midnight, that is. And Sirius knows what to do. It was partially his idea anyway, me and Remus just made the potion. Besides, I wasn't on planning anyway."

"Why not?"

"I can't dance."

"Oh. Well then, thank you James. You really are a great friend." She pulled him into a hug, James' eyes dancing with joy as he, finally was able to hug her back

"You're welcome, Lily." He whispered into her ear. She smiled happily. She couldn't seem to remember at that moment a time when she was happier then she was while she was in James' arms.

"Come on. Let's get back. The Seventh years will be coming in soon." He said, releasing her and taking her hand as they walked smiling out of the now gorgeous Great Hall.

When they finally got back to the Head's common room, Erin and the Marauders were all waiting impatiently for the two of them to come back.

"There you are! My gosh, were where you? I need to get you ready come on." Erin said impatiently and pulled Lily out of the common room and towards Gryffindor tower.

"Prongs! Were where you? We still need to put the potion in the foods!" Sirius exlcaimed.

"Already done. I did it when all the other prefects where in the Great Hall decorating."

"Good, because now we need to get ready for this ball."

"I'm not going."

"Why not?" Remus asked.

"Lily's not because... because she can't. So I told her that I'd stay with her." James explained.

"That's stupid. Erin's getting her fixed up right now, she'll be there. You better get dressed. Moony already has the potions ready." Sirius said, pushing his friend towards his dorm room.

"Alright now, were are your dress robes?" Erin asked irritated.

"I... don't have them." Lily admitted from her seat on Erin's bed.

"Well, go back to your dorm and get them then."

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't have any."

"What? Your parents didn't send you them yet?"

"No. I don't have any. As in none at all, at here or home."

"So... you lied to me then?"

"You catch on quick."

"Why didn't you just tell me the truth?"

"Because. You'd have gone and bought me dress robes and I don't want you to."

"Well, I guess I'm going to have to do all of this. Okay, let's start with the dress. Um, oh right!" She brought out her short wand and flicked it in Lily's direction; her eyes closed shut in concentration.

She opened them a few seconds later, smiling happily at what she had made. "Alright, we'll put those on later," She took them from Lily's hands and placed it on her nightstand.

"Now for your makeup. I think we should change your hair and eye color. You would look beautiful with brown hair-"

"Doesn't potion like that take a week to brew?"

"I have stores. Nothing to worry about. How do you feel about blue eyes?"

"Excuse me?"

"Brown hair, blue eyes. Yes, that'll be good. Alright, drink this down first." Erin handed her friend a small brown bottle, which Lily drank down slowly, worried about the concenquences.

Immediately after all the potion was down, beautiful, glossy, rich brown hair replaced Lily's fiery red. "Wow." She exclaimed, touching her hair amazed. "This isn't perminant, is it?"

"Of course not. Now for your eyes, drink this one." Lily took the even smaller blue bottle and drank it down in a swift glup. She peered closely at herself in the mirror and watched as her emeralds eyes changed to a sparkling sapphire. She gasped, touching her face right under her eyes.

"You like it? Good. Now for your makeup-"

"Wait, if putting a load of goo on my face is supposed to make me look pretty, then forget it."

"Why?"

"Because I want to look like Lily, not a clown."

"Fine. I'll only put a little on," After a few minutes of about ten different brushes wiping, drawing or brushing against her face Erin pulled back happily. "There. Now let's get those dress robes on." She went over to her dresser and took the robes off and handed them to Lily.

It had taken a few minutes to get the dress robes on, but when Lily was finally able to look at herself in the mirror. The dress was white, that was fitted at the waist but flowed out and became poofy with a sheer layer of sparkles covering the white material. Her hair was pulled back and held in place by clips in the shape of sparkling stars that where all down her hair.

"You look beautiful. Now for the final touch." Erin once more pointed her wand at Lily's feet and she looked down to see shinning glass slippers there.

"Don't you think that the glass slippers are a little over the top?" She asked.

"Fine. I'll just-" Erin snapped.

"No, it's okay. I mean, I kind of like them." Lily added, gazing at her new shoes thoughtfully. "Won't they hurt?"

"Of course not, I placed a charm on them. If all you're going to do is complain about these shoes, then I'll take them back."

"No, I like them. It's fine. What about a mask?"

"Right. Here." She handed her friend a simple silvery mask that covered the top half of her face, which she put on carefully.

"I look like Cinderella. Thank you so much Erin." Lily exclaimed, hugging her friend tightly.

"You're welcome. After all, I am your Fairy Godmother if you are Cinderella." She smiled and Lily smiled back.

"What about you?"

"Oh." Erin flicked her wand and her hair was in bouncy curls; she flicked it again and a dress of sky blue with different colored sequins was on her. "Done." She said, grabbing her white mask with blue sparkles.

"How come it took you such a short time to get ready when it took a half hour to get me ready?"

"Because I didn't use magic for yours. Now let's go," Erin opened the door but stopped short. "Wait, I almost forgot."

"What?" Lily asked alarmed.

"You have to be back by midnight."

"Midnight. Why?"

"Because, the potion only works for a certain amount of hours as does the magic."

"Why is it always midnight?" Lily muttered as the two friends made their way to the Great Hall.

"Alright, almost...done." Sirius said happily, placing the potion in James' unitdy hair, making it perfectly slicked back. "Wormtail, hand me that mirror." Peter picked up the small hand mirror that lay on James' nightstand and placed it in Sirius' hand. "Have a look at the new and improved James Potter." He held the mirror in front of his friend's face with a smile of satisfaction.

James looked at himself shocked. It looked like him, but with slicked back, smooth hair and no glasses... he looked... different, somehow.

"So... what do you think?" He looked up as Sirius' voice broke through his thoughts.

"Not bad. Moony, hand me that mask." James said grinning. "Thanks." He placed the alabastor mask on the right side of his face and looked at his friends. "Do I look like James Potter?''

"No. Not even a resemblance." Wormtail said giving him a thumbs up.

"Go get them Prongs." Sirius said, ushering his friend out the door and towards the Great Hall.

When they got to the oak doors, Sirius checked James' appearence before opening the doors and walking into the decorated Great Hall.

"Excellent," Sirius muttered, rubbing his hands together, his navy blue robe sleeves rustling slightly. "A perfect place just waiting for havoc to break loose. You got the potion Moony?"

"Right here," Remus replied tiredly, taking the small black vile out of his red robe pocket.

"Good. Wormtail, you know what to do." Wormtail nodded to Sirius and took the potion from Remus before walking descreetly towards the Slytherin table and pouring the clear potion into the goblets and flower vases on the table.

"Awesome, our plan's in motion. Now lets go find some beautiful girls. Prongs?" Sirius looked at his friend's dazed expression before following his gaze to the beautiful girl clad in a sparkling silver and flowing brown hair that had just entered.

Erin and Lily walked down the corridors slowly, not meeting anyone besides a few sixth year prefects doing their rounds. When they came to the doors of the Great Hall, Lily grabbed Erin's arm and stopped her from going in.

"Wait Erin."

"What? Lil you look amazing, there's nothing-" She tried to reassure her friend.

"It's not about that. I need you to promise me something."

''Sure, anything."

"Promise me that you won't go around telling everyone that I'm the one behind this mask." Lily said seriously.

"And why would I tell everybody?" Erin asked slightly offended.

"Erin, no offense, but you are the one that everyone goes to for gossip." Lily pointed out while Erin rolled her eyes.

"Fine, not a word. Now can we go in?"

"Of course." Erin nodded to her friend and opened both of the double doors at once, slowly, and Lily stepped forward.

She was aware of the eyes that were staring at her in awe and put her head down as she walked forward into the crowd with Erin behind her; holding herself up high and proud.

They went off to the side of the Great Hall and eventually everyone either went back to dancing or eating. Erin started looking anxiously around the Hall for a sign of Sirius and eventually spoted him in the spot that they had agreed to meet at.

"There's Sirius. I'll see you later Lil." Erin said, waving to her friend as she walked across the hall towards her date.

"Bye." Lily replied sadly, gazing around the hall at the many people who were having a wonderful time.

"Excuse me," Came a low voice from behind her, "May I have this dance?"

Cliffie! Sorry about that, but I felt like I needed to put one in, lol!

Please review!! 


	4. Prince Chaming

"Could it be," Sirius said to James as he stared at the girl as she walked through the parted crowd and towards the left side of the hall, "that Cinderella's fairy godmother did her job a little too well?"

He ignored this comment and walked towards her. Her friend had just left and now she was all alone, and looking a little sad and lonely.

"Excuse me?" James asked her, "May I have this dance?" She spun around shocked and smiled nervously at his outstretched hand.

"You may." She replied sweetly, laying her hand on top of the his as he led her out to the dance floor. He twirled her around once as the orchastra struck up a new, graceful tune and placed one hand in hers and the other on her waist.

"So," he began conversationally, looking into her deep, sapphire-like eyes, "what do I have the pleasure of calling you until midnight?"

She turned her head and gazed at the wall next to her before answering simply, "Cinderella. And what may I call you?"

"Prince Charming." James answered smiling cheekily. His gaze traveled down to her feet where his insides burst out laughing at the sight of her glass slippers; in true Cinderella style.

"It seems to suit you." She remarked, grinning.

"Thank you. And your name seems to suit you."

"What is your favorite class?" She asked suddenly.

"Oh, um..." James started, taken off guard.

"I'm sorry," She said quickly, blushing under her sparkling mask. "I shouldn't have said that out of the blue, it was really odd." She looked away towards the wall, not meeting his gaze.

"No, it's fine. I think Defense Against the Dark Arts, and you?"

"Charms." She replied softly, still staring at the wall.

"What house are you in?" James tried.

"That would give it away." She looked back at him as she answered.

"Alright then, new question: what teachers do you like?"

"McGonagall and Flitwick. You?"

"McGonagall and Dumbledore."

"Why Dumbledore? I mean, I admire him, but I was just wonding why." She questioned, looking at him curiously.

"Probably because he doesn't care if you do something wrong, as long as it's in some way, good for the school." James shrugged.

"You mean like he turns his head the other way for the Marauder's pranks?"

"Exactally."

"Oh, so you're one of them then?" She asked, sounding slightly curious.

"I didn't say that. I will say though that I enjoy their pranks and that I believe they are planning one for tonight."

"Do you know what it's supposed to be?."

"No. But it should be funny, they always are."

"You're right, I suppose." She sighed and looked over at Dumbledore and McGonagall dancing slowly together.

"So, what classes do you do well in?" He asked, twirling her around.

"Charms and Potions are probably my best."

"Transfiguration and Defense Against the Dark Arts are mine," James paused for a second, "Would you like to go for a walk?"

"Sorry?" She asked a tad breathless from the dancing.

"Would you like to go for a walk?"

"Where?"

"Outside." He inclined his head towards one of the large windows around the Great Hall.

"But.. there's a lot of snow on the ground." She stated confused at his request.

"It was all cleared away this morning."

"Then, sure. I'd love to." She responded, smiling slightly as he took her hand and led her outside.

"So, where's James?" Erin asked Sirius calmly as he twirled her around the dancefloor gracefully.

"Don't know."He said, twirling his date around and taking a peak at the brown haired angel that he was leaving with.

"Oh."

"What about Lily?"

"She's around here somewhere," Erin observed, looking around for the brunette, but no luck; as Lily truly blended in with the crowd that night.

"Really? Convinced her to come, then?"

"Yes, yes I did."

"Well...what does she look like?"

"I'm not telling."

"She swore you to secrecy?"

"No! She's my friend and she doesn't want anyone to know...which one is James?"

"I'm not telling you that!"

"Please, come on, tell me."

"No, not until you tell me who Lily is."

"No. Tell me."

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

Erin rolled her eyes and threw back her head to laugh at their playful bickering. "You're a terrible boyfriend."

"Says who?"

"Me."

"Well I don't want to be."

"Fine, then tell me."

"No."

"Tell-" A loud fizzing sound stopped Erin in her last attempt to persuade Sirius to tell her who James was and she looked over at the Slytherin table annoyed at being interupted.

Her face immediately contorted into a larger smile at the sight of the seventh year Slytherins sprouting horns, tails, large ears and other various animal parts in unusual places. She looked around to Sirius and saw him smiling gleefully.

"The Marauder's prank?" She asked. He just smiled and looked around the hall for his friends. He spoted James running in from outside, following the girl that he was with. Sirius let go of Erin and ran over to James to try and get his attention to tell him that their plan had worked.

The cold air outside had vanished along with the snow and Lily and her dark haired stranger found themselves walking easily along the stone paths around the school. Roses and other flowers were charmed by Professor Flitwick to stay in bloom and cover the ugly dirt patches in the ground.

"So, are you having a nice time?" The stranger asked Lily, looking over at her hopefully with his enchanting hazel eyes.

"Yes, I am." He stopped and smiled warmly at her words before bending down and picking a single red rose from the ground and gracefully holding it out to her.

"Thank you," She smiled shyly and blushed deeply as she took the rose and stared at it happily. "But I fear I have nothing to give you."

He walked closer to her and looked down, deeply into her eyes. "You'd think I'd remember those eyes, they're so beautiful." She blushed again as he leaned closer to her, the tip of his mask was just barely touching hers when the clock struck twelve and she gazed down and saw the dress growing shorter and felt the mask shrinking on her face.

Lily stepped back and ran as fast as she could back into the castle, tearing off the mask as she went to clear her line of vision. The stranger watched her go for a few moments before sprinting off after her. He followed her into the castle and saw her tearing up the stairs, her hair changing color slightly.

"Hey, Prongs! It worked, look," Sirius jumped in front of him and slung his arm around his friend's protesting shoulders. James tried to get past him, but Sirius held him tight.

"Let go, Padfoot!" He said franticly, trying to follow the angel. James finally broke away but she had disappeared, with no trace of her left. He stood helplessly at the foot of the grand staircase and gazed up the stairs sadly; emotion overpowering him for not finding out who she was.

He lowered his eyes to the floor and saw a thin piece of wood lying under the cool marble step. He bent down and picked it up and saw that it had flowers intertwining and twisting throughout the length of the wand. James sighed and pocketed it, stood up, and slowly marched over to where Sirius, Remus and Peter were congratulating each other on their amazing prank. He gave one last longing glance up the stairs and sighed heavily once more before returning to the Head's common room.

Lily heard and felt something fall from her as she sprinted up the stairs, going two at a time, ripping off the glass slippers that were cutting into her circulation. She sped up the the stairs to the second floor, rushed around a corner, and stopped to catch her breath. The shoes that where in her hands where now barely big enough to fit over her thumb, and the mask was completely gone, save for a few sparkles. Her hair and eyes where back to their normal shades and the star clips had too vanished. The dress was becoming tighter and shorter by the minute, making it feel like she was wearing a corset.

"I can't breath." She gasped slightly to herself, taking in deep gulps of air to try and fill up her desperate and tired lungs. She closed her eyes for a moment before snapping them open and running up five more flights of stairs to the Gryffindor common room.

Lily climbed up the stairs to Erin's room and locked the door behind her. She yanked off the dress just as it disappeared with a fizzing sound and changed back into her school robes. She then fell back onto Erin's bed to wait for her friend to return when she noticed that she still had the red rose from the stranger in her hand. Lily sat up and admired it, its softness, its smell, its color. Everything about it was perfect. Just like tonight. Just like him; whoever he was.

A wave of guilt overcame her. James was probably back at the common room, all alone and sad because she didn't stay with him, instead she went to the ball and had a great time with a mystery guy. She was an absoutely terrible friend; 'And what's worse,' her conscience pointed out, 'is that he still fancies me and...and...and I'll admit, I feel something for James and for this stranger too. Urgh, why does practically falling in love with that guy seem completely wrong?! Unless, of course, that guy turned out to be James.' She sat up at that thought.

It was possible. The stranger had black hair, so did James. He could have charmed his eyes so that he wouldn't need his glasses and his voice...it was so familiar, yet so mysterious. How could she not remember where she had heard his voice before? She knew she had, it was just a matter of where exactly.

"Lily!" She sat up quickly and smiled at the sounds of Erin banging on the door, "Lily! I know you're in there, let me in! Thank you." Erin nodded and walked inside and closed the door behind her. 

"So...how did it go?"

"I met someone." Lily muttered, blushing.

"AAAAHHHHH!" Erin squeeled, jumping onto and hugging her friend as if there was no tomorrow, "I'm so proud of you! I'm so happy for you! Who was he? What did he look like? What was his name?"

"Erin, here's the problem: your magic only let me stay until midnight, and I was about to find out who he was and he was about to..." Lily trailed off, not wanting to finish her sentence.

"He was about to what? What? You can't leave me in the dark here, tell me!"

"Nothing."

"Tell me."

"It was nothing.

"Tell me." Erin demanded, her eyes getting a weird firery glaze to them.

"Nothing."

"Fine, don't tell me. But why do you look so gloomy?"

"I did a Cinderella." Lily looked down at the floor, ashamed.

"What do you mean? Wait, you dropped something?"

"Yes! I don't what I dropped though. Could it have been the shoe?"

"Lily...this magic has no exceptions, the shoe disappeared, not like in fairy tales. What else where you carrying?"

"My wand."

"You dropped your wand, genius. Absolute genius. Now you're going to have to go up to every guy in Seventh Year and ask them if they found a wand." Erin muttered sarcastically, taking the mask off her face in frustration.

"Well, at least I'll be able to find him." Lily muttered to herself, "I'm going to get to bed, night."

"Night." Erin grumbled as Lily slowly ascended the stairs and walked through the lonely corridors in silence.

As soon as James reached the Head's portrait, he went into his room to change his clothes, mess up his hair and put on the glasses that he missed upon his face. Once he felt like his old self again, he ploped down on the couch in front of the fire and thought about the mystery girl.

He immediately felt bad once her face came into his mind for guilt overwelmed him; what about Lily? She was probably asleep in her bed right now and he had just had a great time with an amazing girl.

"James?" He looked over and saw that Lily had just came through the portrait hole and had red and puffy eyes, like she had been crying.

"Lily? Are you alright?" He asked, walking over to her and gently placing his hands on her shoulders, "I thought you were sleeping."

"I was in Erin's dorm." She muttered, "What about you? I thought you would be sleeping."

"No, I'm not tired. You alright? You look terrible."

"I'm sure. Erin was just being Erin again."

"Oh."

"I'm going to go to bed, night." Lily murmered, smiling slightly and walking into her room and closing the doors softly behind her.

So, there was the ball, what did you all think?

Please review!!


	5. Sirius' NotSoBrilliant Plan

'Sirius' Not-So-Brilliant Plan' is based on the scene from A Cinderella Story that the friends do for Austin, just this is a little different.

It had been a mere eight hours since the ball ended and already people were gossiping about who was with who, what she was wearing, what he looked like, how dare she wear those shoes because I'm wearing them, etc., etc. There was also the issue about whether or not girls had danced with James Potter, as his fan club had flocked towards guys with black hair and hazel eyes, but he had been absent so far from breakfast. Sirius, Remus and Peter had been waiting for him to come down and were beginning to get impatient.

"Where is he? How long can it take him to come down?" Sirius said frustrated, running his hands anxiously through his hair.

"Calm down Padfoot," Remus said, "He wasn't looking too good last night."

"Well, what happened to him?"

"Well, did you see him doing anything before you ran into him?"

"He was running after that girl he was with-" Sirius stopped and looked at Remus who rolled his eyes and got a certain look on his face. "That explains a lot," Sirius muttered.

"So what do we do?" Peter asked his friends.

"We try to find every seventh year girl with brown hair and ask them if they danced with Prongs." Sirius said, his hand under his chin and thinking hard.

"No!" Remus shouted, drawing some attention. He cleared his throat and continued in a lower tone, "We can't do that. Almost every girl in the seventh year will say yes to that."

"Fine. Got any better ideas?" Remus shook his head 'no', "Well, until you do, we're going with that plan. Now let's go find us some girls."

"Lily, you have to find him!" Erin argued angrily as her and Lily descended the marble staircase towards the Great Hall.

"No." She responded firmly and tiredly. This same arguement had been going on since Erin had come barging into her room at six in the morning to wake her up and question her further about the ball.

"Why not?" Erin persisted, pouting and stomping her feet like a small child who didn't get her wish.

"Because."

"Because why?"

"Just because!" Lily snapped, turning around and fully facing her.

"But Lily, you've got a whole fairy tale plot working out here! Why are you just going to throw it all away?''

''You want to know why? Because in fairy tales, the prince doesn't know a damn thing about the princess, he just falls in love with her because of her beauty. I want a guy who loves me for me, not just because he thinks I'm beautiful." Lily glared at her friend, her emerald eyes flashing dangerously. Erin stepped back and took off her pouting face, but continued to argue.

"Did you talk at all?"

"A little." Lily answered, calming down as they sat down at the end of the Gryffindor table.

"Well...what did you talk about?"

"Our favorite classes and teachers and such."

"See, he knows a little about you," Erin pointed out, pouring orange juice into her goblet. "And he didn't even see your whole face, so for all he knows, you could be ugly...not that you are or anything."

"Still." Lily mumbled, playing with her food.

"Lily, please stop being so stubborn. It's not a big deal. Just go up to the guys with black hair and ask them if they found a wand."

"How many guys in seventh year have black hair?"

"Three." Erin anwered promptly before looking down, blushing, and muttering, "I think."

"Which houses are they in?"

"Gryffindor and Ravenclaw."

"Who are they?"

"Well, Sirius, James and George Taylor."

"We can rule out Sirius."

"Right. What color eyes did your Prince have?"

"Hazel...I think."

"That rules out George as he has blue eyes. So that leaves James."

"But...when I came back to the common room he was already there."

"Did he say he didn't go?"

"No. We really didn't go into detail about the ball."

"So...it could be him!"

"But you said you talked to Sirius-" Lily argued. I couldn't have been James, it just couldn't. But no matter how she tried to deny it, a small part of her was jumping for joy at the possiblity of James being her Prince Charming.

"He said he didn't know where James was. That doesn't mean he wasn't there. Look, there's him and the rest of the Marauders, go ask him!" Erin pointed towards the entrance doors where James was running through with Sirius, Remus and Peter hot on his tail.

"Isn't it better to just live in reality and not in fantasy?" Lily muttered, stuffing a book in front of her face to hide the redness that had creeped its way onto her cheeks.

When James had gotten up the morning after the ball, he felt like he had sacks of lead on his eyelids and strapped to his arms and legs. His throat felt dry and he was in no mood to be interigated about his mystery girl. He took as much time as he could allow himself to to wash himself and get dressed and padded slowly and softly down to the entrance hall where he found, to his surprise, the fellow Marauders waiting for him with their arms behind their backs.

"What's wrong?" James yawned, eyeing his friends' sneaky grins cautiously.

"Nothing." Peter squeaked immediately, earning a nudge from Remus.

"Come with us, Prongs. We have a present for you," Sirius smiled broadly and slung his arm around his tall friend's shoulder and lead him outside.

"He did this because you looked so gloomy, so...," Remus paused as they came to the courtyard where a line of about twenty girls, all with brown hair, were waiting patiently and excitiedly. Some of them, James noted, where in the Marauders' fan club.

"So, we asked every girl with brown hair if they were with you at the dance, these girls said yes." Sirius explained.

"Oh no. No, no, no..." James trailed off as his eyes went wide and tried to run off, but Remus and Sirius held him back and forced him onto a bench. He looked over at Remus and grabbed his neck, "You are so dead, " He muttered smiling sarcasticly.

"Now," Sirius stood back proudly and looked over at the girls before bringing his gaze back to his friend, "The girl you where with, what color eyes did she have?"

"Blue."

"All the girls without blue eyes, you can go," The fifteen girls without blue eyes stomped away sadly, some even had tears coming down their cheeks; while the girls with blue eyes smiled proudly at their good fortune.

"Um...what else about her?"

"How am I supposed to know? Half her face was covered." James protested, bringing his chin onto the palm of his hand and resting it on his knee unhappily.

"This is stupid. I was with you James," A girl came out of the line and walked straight up to him.

"She's lying!" Another girl protested, walking up to the first girl, "I'm the girl you where with!" 

"No!"

"That's not true!" The other girls came up and crowded around, trying to get James' attention, and insisting to him that they were the mystery girl he was with. 

"Alright. Alright. Hey!" James shouted angrily. All the girls immediately stopped arguing and looked at him expectantly. "I want all of you to take out your wands, come on, do it."

All the girls took out their wands hesitantly, with looks of confusion written across their faces.

"Well, I wasn't with any of you. Thanks for coming," James walked away quickly and sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Hey, Prongs! Wait, come back!" Sirius yelled, taking off after him with Remus behind him and Peter huffing and puffing after just running two steps.

"Wait, hold on Prongs," Sirius shouted once he caught up with his friend in the entrance hall, "What's wrong?"

"None of those girls was the one I was with."

"How do you know that?"

James pulled out the girl's wand with the flowers intertwining around the base and held it between his fingers. "Because the girl I was with had this,"

"Well, that explains a lot," Sirius remarked after a moment of silence. James grinned, pocketed the wand, and rolled his eyes. Remus started to laugh.

"What? What did I say?"

"James? Can I talk to you?" The Marauders all turned around and saw Lily standing nervously behind them, her face as red as her hair.

Hope you all liked this chap!

Please review!


	6. cinderevans

All right, this is the last chapter. Sorry that this one is so short, but I couldn't think of anything else to put and I think that a short and hopefully sweet story is good!

"Sorry?" James asked, staring at Lily questionably as she shuffled her small feet and looking so directly onto the floor, she might have burned a hole in it.

"I was wondering if you could come for a walk with me? I would like to ask you something." She mumbled, looking up slightly and blushing even more at the sight of all the Marauder's eyes on her.

"Sure," James nodded. He started walking away towards the entrance doors with her and called back to his friends, "I'll see you all later for Quidditch Practice."

Lily stopped by the front doors and looked up at James nervously. He stood next to her extremely perplexed and shoved his unusually sweaty hands in his pockets.

"Do you want to go outside?" She asked timidly.

"Fine by me." He shrugged, completely at odds as to why she was acting so weird.

They walked out of the entrance doors and the blinding sunlight streamed into their faces. They blinked several times as the soft grass crunched under their feet as they made their way towards the gleaming lake. They were silent for minutes on end, gazing around the grounds at the other students smiling and laughing with each other; all really happy.

"Beautiful day." Lily observed, trying to start up a conversation while twiddling her thumbs.

"Yeah." James mumbled, sighing and looking at the Forbidden Forest where that night him, Sirius, Peter and Moony would have their monthly gathering under the full moon.

The two teens continued to walk around the entire lake in silence, both wanting to ask the other a question, but both remaining unusually silent.

"Um...James?" Lily tried, as they made their way around the lake for the second time.

"Yes?" He looked over at her interestingly. She stopped and faced him fully and he looked at her concerned.

"I went to the ball." She announced, placing her hands at her sides.

"Really?" He asked, his hopes somehow getting higher that maybe, just maybe it was her that he had been with.

"Yeah. I took your advice and I went." She smiled sheepishly and adverted her gaze to the ground as if embarrassed.

"Meet anyone?" He ventured timidly, looking around nervously.

"Yes." She replied, keeping her eyes trained on the ground.

"Really? Who?" He asked a little too fast, as she looked up curiously.

"I don't know. I left before midnight." She answered suspiciously, eyeing him cautiously.

"Why did you leave?"

"Because I was tired, why else?" She smiled and laughed slightly at her answer.

"The guy you where with, was he nice?" James asked, trying to contain his mouth from bursting out the question he wanted desperately to ask her.

"Incredibly." She blushed as she remembered how gentlemanly he had acted towards her, and how courteous.

"Handsome?" He asked calmly again.

"I think so. Half his face was covered by a mask." Lily responded, as she started to walk towards the benches in the courtyard. The wind blew her hair all around her face and as James caught up with her, he helped her get it all out of her way before they sat down next to each other on the white marble bench.

"Thank you," She smiled gratefully at him.

"No problem. What color?" He brought up the questioning again; it was crucial to him that he figure out if it was her who he was dancing with.

"Sorry?" She asked confused.

"What color was his mask?" James asked again.

"Oh, white," She paused and fiddled with a strand of hair that kept coming over her face, "What about you? You meet anyone?" She asked interested.

"Yes, I did." He smiled brightly, and nodded once in response.

"Who?" Lily asked in a high-pitched voice and she coughed immediately to try and cover up her voice, "I mean… who was she?"

"I don't know. But she was gorgeous. Long wavy brown hair and blue eyes that looked just like sapphires." James' eyes got a glazy look over them and his face got a goofy smile on it as he thought of her; well, what he remembered of her.

"Really? What was she like?" Lily asked stiffly, playing with a bunch of loose threads on the sleeve of her robe.

"Nice, sweet, funny and seemed smart." He answered promptly, completely oblivious to the smile that was creeping across her face and the excitedness that she was pulling out the threads of her robe.

"Did you see her face?"

"No. She had to leave before midnight for some odd reason." James finished, looking over at Lily slightly.

"Interesting," She mumbled, jumping up suddenly and getting her robe sleeve caught in the sharp edge of the bench, making it rip, "I have to g- oh damn!" She grabbed her robe and looked upset at the large gash that was across the hem of her sleeve.

"What's wrong?" James asked worriedly, looking at her upset and down trod facial expression.

"My robe tore," She sighed and played with the ripped hem in her fingertips sadly, "This is my last clean one."

"So fix it." He answered simply, noting her odd behavior as he looked over her carefully.

"Oh, right...um...can you..." She trailed off, mumbling, embarrassed.

"Why can't you?" He asked, standing up and walking closer to her. She mumbled something in response that was inaudible to his ears, "Sorry? Say it again." He walked even closer to her so that they were standing a couple of inches apart.

"I lost my wand." She mumbled a little louder, tilting her head to the side and looking at the ground again.

"How?"

"At the ball. I left and I must have dropped it and I can't find it anywhere." Lily mumbled quickly as she resumed playing with the ripped hem.

"What does it look like?" James asked excitedly grasping the wand that his girl had dropped by the stairs in his pocket tightly. He could feel his palms sweating as he waited in anticipation for her answer.

"Willow, ten and a quarter inches long and there's a small engraving of lilies on the handle." She explained promptly, moving her hands around in the air to animate her description.

As Lily spoke, James moved his hand to the bottom of the wand nervously and felt a bump of what felt like flowers. His eyes widened as he pulled it from his pocket and brought it in between the two of them. "Does it by any chance look like this?" He asked.

"Where did you find that?" She asked, excited and intrigued as she touched the familiar wood lilies and the smooth texture of the tip.

"At the foot of the staircase...after the girl I was with fled," He paused and walked closer to her, "A girl who was like you in every way possible."

"The guy I was with was like you in every way possible. Except he had no glasses. And I have a confession to make." She said smiling brightly and holding her wand happily.

"Oh really, and what is that?" He asked playfully, he knew her answer, but hearing it from her made it all the better.

"I used a potion...well, actually Erin used a potion to change my hair and eye color." She explained, blushing happily, fingering her hair.

"I have a confession too. Remus made some potions that flattened my hair and made my eyesight perfect." He chuckled softly at the memory, and glanced down quickly at the ground before bringing his head up to look into her eyes.

"I wanted it to be you, I really did." She whispered, walking closer to him.

"And I you. Lily, you are my match in every way." He said, touching her cheek nervously.

"I'm so happy that I finally found you. Prince Charming." Lily smiled.

"And I you, Cinderevans." James responded, bringing her face to his as he kissed her and sealed their fate to live together forever as Prince and Princess, happily ever after.

Well, I'm done. I hope you all liked this story! I'm starting a new story that should be up sometime in the next few weeks.

Please review! 


	7. Thanks to

Hi Thanks for all the good and bad reveiws i looking through mistakes and do them now so plz reread and see is you spot any :) I writing New Stories soon so look out

Thanks you to

shana.rose.  
InkGothical

lady knight keladry

VioletPastPrime 3

emeraldeye 3

Faxness-Fan48 2

Rising Dreamer 3

SingingBird812 3

Rock-For-Life

thank you:)


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